Sasi Dharan Chandran, the Malaysian-Tamil reggae artiste, who goes by the moniker Sasi The Don is on cloud nine. The 42-year-old Reggae ambassador of Asia joins the league of the legendary Jamaican singer Bob Marley’s son, Julian, with a nomination for the Caribbean Afro Music Award. An ecstatic Sasi, whose most prized moment in life was collaborating with his idol Apache Indian in 2004, tells us, “It was both a surprise and a shock when I first learnt about the nomination. I initially thought that it was a spam message only to realise later that it was seriously happening. An Asian getting recognition and nomination is something extremely important and encouraging. There are a couple of acts from around the world that got nominated for Best International Act including Julian Marley, Bob Marley’s son”.
It will be the first dedicated award ceremony to take place in London, acknowledging and rewarding British and international talents cutting across the musical genres of Afrobeats, Reggae, Dancehall, Soca, Reggaeton and Gospel. Sasi loves watching Bollywood and Tamil films, especially crime thrillers, and here he talks about his new album, My Second Wave, collaborating with Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant and rescripting the story of Humpty Dumpty. Excerpts:
What was the idea behind My Second Wave?
When the world was reeling under pandemic, I started reflecting on my life. Looking back at ‘my second wave’ which is my 20 years in the industry, I realised it was magical. I wanted to hold on to that magic and make a promise to people that this coronavirus is not going to take control of our lives. It’s all about sending good vibes and making great things happen.
Tell us about the album.
My Second Wave has six songs and four remixes. They are all in English except for one, Jane Jana, which is a collaboration with singer Abhijeet Sawant. We have been friends for the past four years and it was time to do something together. The first song of the album is called Humpty Dumpty, which will be releasing in December. I always thought that there was more to Humpty Dumpty than falling and breaking or dying. So, I decided to continue the journey of Humpty Dumpty through my song and he is now on top of the world and got some magic too. It’s just an allegory about you and me and how we have that magic to change the world.
How is the album in terms of its music?
The music of the album is very interesting. I executed the whole album and collaborated with producers from Malaysia, Sweden and Jamaica. The whole album is being mixed and mastered in Jamaica and musically it has a graceful happy vibe.
What’s next?
I am working on the music video for Humpty Dumpty. That will be followed by more songs from the album